deploy: from repo to live URL

the project only you can reach

Everything you built in modules 1 and 2 runs on localhost, where one person can see it: you. Module 3 puts the project in front of users, one production concern per lesson: URL, secrets, sign-in, payments, database, monitoring. Deployment comes first because platforms have folded it into a habit you have from module 1: pushing to git.

The model, in Vercel's words: connect the repo once, and you get "automatic deployments on every branch push". You push; the platform builds and ships.

the two environments

Connecting the repo buys you a workflow. Per the docs, every push lands in one of two worlds:

• preview, when you push a branch other than main: the platform builds it and hands you a preview deployment (a live, shareable URL built from a branch, isolated from your production site). A live URL of the change, on real infrastructure, away from what users see.
• production, when you merge to main: the build goes live on your domain, and users see it within minutes.

The preview URL is the evidence module 1 taught you to demand at the end of a request: a link anyone can click, on real infrastructure, before the change reaches users.

what the agent does with this

Your agent can drive the loop end to end: commit, push, watch the build, read the build log when it fails. You keep one decision: what merges to main. Set that rule once and hold it: nothing merges without the evidence you defined, whether that's green tests, screenshots, or a preview you clicked through yourself.

what it looks like in production

This site went live the same way: repo connected, main as the production branch, and every founder commit since then deploys itself:

what you take with you

• connect the repo once: pushes to main go live, other branches get preview URLs
• the preview URL is the evidence at the end of a request, on real infrastructure
• one decision stays yours: nothing merges to main without the evidence you defined

exercise

❯ exercise — take one project live

Connect a project of yours (the module 1 project works well) to a deploy platform and ship it through git.

• ○the repo is connected: a push to main produces a production deploy with no manual command
• ○a push to a non-main branch produces a preview URL, and you opened it
• ○you know which branch is the production branch, and your own merge rule protects it
• ○one request to your agent ended with a preview URL as the evidence

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